Mining education gets federal boost as industry faces workforce crunch

During a mining roundtable at the U.S. Department of State on Aug. 7, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. Government will invest $3 billion in critical minerals and battery projects as part of a push to increase domestic production, boost national security and support industrial policy.

Part of this investment includes $180 million earmarked for education and workforce development for the mining sector, including up to $100 million to strengthen education in critical minerals and materials from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and $80 million from the U.S. Department of War (DOW) for investments in the Colorado School of Mines, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and Johns Hopkins University.

The DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI) announced a notice of intent for up to $100 million to develop a new program called “Providing Opportunities for Specialized Education in Critical Technologies (PROSPECT).”The DOW investment will be used to build technology innovation hubs, form project-focused partnerships between students and defense industry, develop new processes and prototypes, and certify hundreds of new students with advanced degrees in mining, geology and metallurgy.

Department heads from the 14 ABET-accredited mining schools in the United States attended the meeting held at the Department of State. They were joined by Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick as well as several industry leaders including James Litinsky, chief executive officer of MP Materials; Vicky Peacey, president of Resolution Copper; Robert Friedland, founder of Ivanhoe Mines; Mitchell Krebs, chief executive officer of Coeur Mining as well as representatives from Rio Tinto, BHP, Energy Fuels and a number of other industry leaders.

“I am not aware of another time in history when the leaders of the U.S. mining education community have been brought together with a sitting President, Cabinet officials, and industry leaders to discuss the future of American mining,” said Aaron Noble, Charles T. Holland Professor Department Head – Mining and Minerals Engineering and interim department head – Materials Science and Engineering at Virginia Tech. “Mining education was not on the periphery of the conversation; we quite literally had a seat at the table where national mineral strategy was being discussed. I hope we look back on this as an inflection point for American mining education.”

The historic funding announcement comes in response to a critical need for more mining and processing engineers in the United States. The DOE estimates the industry will need 6,000 more mining engineers during the next decade.
Noble said U.S. programs currently graduated fewer than 200 mining engineering graduates annually.

Meeting that demand has been a challenge for many years. Enrollment in U.S. mining programs has declined by approximately 45 percent since 2015, and data compiled by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME) and the Society of Mining Professors show enrollment falling from nearly 1,500 students eight years ago to fewer than 600 in 2023.

The investments offer the 14 mining schools an opportunity to expand enrollment, modernize curricula, strengthen industry relationships and build a more stable workforce pipeline.

Kray Luxbacher, executive director and head of the University of Arizona School of Mining Engineering and Mineral Resources, attended the roundtable. She said mining school department heads across the country are “fighting to grow enrollment to meet industry demand.”

“This funding is an opportunity to change the trajectory of mining,” Luxbacher said, “to bring in students who didn’t grow up around mining, show them what a modern career in this field looks like and give our programs the resources to compete for their attention.”

PROSPECT targets the entire mineral workforce

PROSPECT’s near-term objective has an ambitious goal to double the number of graduates with degrees related to mining, minerals and associated supply-chain technologies within two years.

Longer term, DOE intends for PROSPECT to support new curricula, teaching tools, financial-aid programs and other incentives that can continue expanding enrollment.

The program is also intended to bring universities and industry closer together. DOE’s notice of intent calls for collaboration among universities, industry, national laboratories, community colleges, trade schools and other workforce partners.

While many details are still to be released, including the mechanics for how mining schools, and potentially other universities that do not have mining or mineral processing-focused programs, can apply to participate in PROSPECT, the DOE has laid out its intentions for the program.

PROSPECT specifically identifies faculty development, instructional laboratory modernization and educational infrastructure as priorities. It also calls for greater participation in internships, cooperative education, apprenticeships, undergraduate research and other forms of experiential learning.

Industry participation can help support education by giving students exposure to real-world mine planning, mineral processing, automation, equipment, safety and operational challenges before they enter the workforce.
The objective is to build a scalable pipeline rather than temporarily boost enrollment.

The Department of War adds a second dimension

The proposed DOW investments announced Aug. 7 provide another mechanism for expanding the workforce while connecting education directly to national-security requirements.

The largest of the three investments is a proposed $32.7 million for the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) to establish a Critical Minerals Innovation and Commercialization Hub.

“Meeting the nation’s growing demand for strategic and critical minerals requires a larger, highly trained workforce, deep expertise across the entire mineral value chain and the ability to innovate quickly — Colorado School of Mines has a proven record of delivering all three,” said CSM president Paul C. Johnson. “We thank President Trump and the administration for this $32.7 million investment that will enable us to turn lab breakthroughs into market solutions while training the mining workforce America needs.”

The Critical Minerals Innovation and Commercialization Hub will be housed in a newly acquired 50,000-ft2 facility in Golden, CO. The hub will bring together government, industry, entrepreneurs, researchers and students to test and scale new technologies for mineral processing, recovery, refining, recycling and advanced materials with the goal of ultimately moving those technologies into the domestic supply chain.

CSM already provides evidence that increased investment can translate into enrollment growth. The university has doubled undergraduate mining engineering enrollment in three years and plans to launch a minor in mineral processing and extractive metallurgy this fall, with a full undergraduate major as a longer-term objective.
The DOW investment also includes a proposed $25 million investment in South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (South Dakota Mines) to create the Critical Minerals Merit Scholars Consortium that would establish four integrated workforce-development programs across three mineral-STEM institutions: South Dakota Mines, the University of Kentucky and the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

“We are deeply grateful for President Trump’s announcement of major federal investments in mining education and workforce development,” said Rudrajit Mitra, Ph.D., interim head of South Dakota Mines’ Department of Mining Engineering and Management, who represented the university at the roundtable. “South Dakota Mines is proud to be selected for $25 million in funding to establish the Critical Minerals Merit Scholars Consortium. This investment will allow us to expand opportunities for students while strengthening the workforce needed to develop and secure America’s critical mineral resources,” he said.

Andrea Brickey, Ph.D., South Dakota Mines professor of mining engineering and management and principal investigator for the award, said, “This investment recognizes the critical role that institutions like ours play in training the next generation of mining engineers, geologists, metallurgists and related STEM professionals who are essential to America’s energy security, national defense and economic competitiveness.”

The DOW is also investing beyond the 14 mining schools including a proposed $23.6 million investment to Johns Hopkins University for the founding of a multimaterial recycling innovation hub connecting an emerging technology developer (AGILEWorks) for scrap sourcing, process innovation, testing, qualification and integration into existing defense platforms.

The Mining Schools Act

The Aug. 7 announcements also come as Congress continues to consider the Mining Schools Act, which was introduced in 2022 but has yet to pass the House.

The House did pass the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (FY27 NDAA), which contains elements of the Mining Schools Act. Section 1883 of the FY27 NDAA, “Workforce Development Initiatives to Support Mining of Critical Minerals,” directs the Secretary of War to use Title III of the Defense Production Act (DPA) and other existing authorities “to ensure that the workforce development initiatives of the DOW for the defense industrial base include workforce development initiatives to support the mining industry.”

This bill does not include the $80 million appropriations for eight fiscal years that the mining schools bill included in 2022. Instead, it uses DPA funding for contracts, grants, cooperative initiatives for student recruitment and education; scholarships, tuition assistance and stipends; and industry-driven applied research and senior design projects.
The legislation also would require the Secretary of War to evaluate by Sept. 1, 2027, whether future Title III contracts for mining, processing, refining or recycling critical minerals should require prime defense contractors to partner with an accredited mining school and to develop mining-related workforce pathways for veterans and members of the Armed Forces who are transitioning into civilian life.

The Mining Schools bill has been in play since 2022. Despite widespread bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, it hasn’t passed because the House rules require a “pay-for” to offset the $80 million appropriation in this bill.
The NDAA has stalled in the Senate after failing to receive the 60 votes required to advance through a procedural cloture vote.

Industry support

The near-term goals of the announced funding is directed toward mining education. The longer-term beneficiaries will be the mining industry itself.

Resolution Copper is one company that is looking for next generation of mining professionals. Two days before the announcement, Resolution Copper announced that it had awarded approximately $110 million in contracts to Major Drilling America Inc. and Redpath USA Corp. to advance exploration and underground development at the proposed Resolution Copper Mine in Arizona.

The contracts represent major early commitments under the approximately $500 million investment program announced following completion of the final environmental impact statement process, record of decision and congressionally mandated land exchange earlier this year.

“We have 4,000 people that will work at our facility,” Resolution Copper’s president Peacey said during the roundtable. “We hope to work closely with the mining schools and hire many of the students that will be graduating.”
She added, “We can keep everything in the United States and a host of critical mineral coproducts as well. We are rolling in drill rigs, we are rolling in equipment, and we’re getting on with it.”